Ad description

A press ad for an online retailer featured a watch. Text stated "The Limited-edition PRIDE OF ENGLAND 18-carat Gold Men's Watch ... Capturing the pride of the English Nation ... Raised 18-carat gold three-lion design ... Watch strap and casing richly plated in 18-carat gold ...".  Further text stated "Three raised 18-carat gold-plated lions feature on the watch face of the stainless steel, gold-plated timepiece".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the description of the product as an "18-carat gold men's watch" was misleading, because further text stated that the watch was gold-plated.

Response

The Bradford Exchange Ltd (The Bradford Exchange) apologised for the error and said the ad had since been changed. They submitted a copy of the amended ad.

Assessment

Upheld

The amended ad indicated that the claims "18-carat gold" had been amended to "18-carat gold-plated". However, the ASA was concerned that The Bradford Exchange had repeated the misleading claim after agreeing to replace references to gold with gold-plated during the course of a previous investigation.

Because the watch was gold-plated the claim "18-carat gold men's watch" was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  and  3.3 3.3 Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
 (Misleading advertising) and  3.11 3.11 Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.  (Exaggeration).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told The Bradford Exchange not to claim that their products were "18-carat gold" if they were not.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.11     3.3    


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